The age of 3D printing and personal fabrication is upon us! You've probably heard of the incredibly sophisticated, yet inexpensive 3D printers that can produce almost any creation you give them. But how do you become part of that revolution? Sandeep Singh takes you through the skills you need to learn and the services and technologies you need to know—explaining what 3D printing is, how it works, and what it can do for you. You'll find yourself rapidly prototyping and learning to produce complex designs that can be fabricated by online 3D printing services or privately-owned 3D printers—in your hands in no time. Beginning Google SketchUp for 3D Printing starts by explaining how to use SketchUp and its plug-ins to make your design products. You will learn how to present and animate 3D models, and how to use Google Earth and 3D Warehouse to sell and market your 3D models. You'll also catch a glimpse of the 3D printing's future so you can plan ahead while mastering today's tools. Beginning Google SketchUp for 3D Printing is the perfect book for 3D designers, hobbyists, woodworkers, craftspeople, and artists interested in the following: Designing in 3D using SketchUp Using the online 3D printing pipeline Animating SketchUp 3D models Becoming familiar with rapid prototyping technology Navigating new 3D and personal fabrication technologies Working with Google Earth and 3D Warehouse with confidence Welcome to the era of 3D printing and personal fabrication!

Desktop or DIY 3D printers are devices you can either buy preassembled as a kit, or build from a collection of parts to design and print physical objects including replacement household parts, custom toys, and even art, science, or engineering projects. Maybe you have one, or maybe you're thinking about buying or building one. Practical 3D Printers takes you beyond how to build a 3D printer, to calibrating, customizing, and creating amazing models, including 3D printed text, a warship model, a robot platform, windup toys, and arcade-inspired alien invaders. You'll learn about the different types of personal 3D printers and how they work; from the MakerBot to the RepRap printers like the Huxley and Mendel, as well as the whiteAnt CNC featured in the Apress book Printing in Plastic. You'll discover how easy it is to find and design 3D models using web-based 3D modeling, and even how to create a 3D model from a 2D image. After learning the basics, this book will walk you through building multi-part models with a steampunk warship project, working with meshes to build your own action heroes, and creating an autonomous robot chassis. Finally, you'll find even more bonus projects to build, including wind-up walkers, faceted vases for the home, and a handful of useful upgrades to modify and improve your 3D printer.

3DP4E, a top resource website for 3D Printing enthusiasts from desktop hobbyists to teachers and businesses is collecting their favorite resources available on the website into a stylish eBook. The eBook contains information and links to 3DP4E’s vast knowledge base of 3D Printing manufactures, artists, products, and services, presented cleanly and succinctly. This guide makes all the tools one would need available to begin their personal journey into the world of 3D Printing.

Beginning Design for 3D Printing is the full color go-to-guide for creating just about anything on a 3D printer. This book will demystify the design process for 3D printing, providing the proper workflows for those new to 3D printing, eager artists, seasoned engineers, 3D printing entrepreneurs, and first-time owners of 3D printers to ensure original ideas can be 3D printed. Beginning Design for 3D Printing explores a variety of 3D printing projects. Focus is on the use of freely available 3D design applications with step-by-step techniques that will demonstrate how to create a wide variety of 3D printable objects and illustrate the differences between splines, polygons, and solids. Users will get a deep understanding of a wide range modeling applications. They'll learn the differences between organic modeling tools, hard edge modeling, and precision, CAD-based techniques used to make 3D printable designs, practical products, and personalized works of art. Whether you are a student on a budget or a company exploring R & D options for 3D printing, Beginning Design for 3D Printing will provide the right tools and techniques to ensure 3D printing success.

Design almost anything in 3D with SketchUp Whether you've dabbled in drawing in 3D or are interested in learning the basics of design, SketchUp For Dummies makes it fast and easy to learn the ropes of a powerful, user-friendly tool to bring your design ideas to life. From creating a basic 3D model to showing off your work via 3D print or animation, this all-access guide pulls back the curtain on using SketchUp to do anything from redesigning your house to mocking up the next great invention. With an emphasis on usability, SketchUp has found very wide success as a tool even non-designers can use to make basic drawings. And now, thanks to the insight and expert tips from former SketchUp product director Aidan Chopra and co-author Rebecca Huehls, this easy-to-follow guide makes it more accessible than ever! Create buildings and components Alter the appearance of your model Tour your designs via SketchUp Get quick tips on troubleshooting If you're a designer with sketchy computer modeling skills, SketchUp For Dummies is the trusted reference you'll turn to again and again.

SketchUp is an all-purpose 3D modeling tool. The program is primarily developed around architectural design, but it can be used to model just about anything. It is an easy way to quickly communicate your design ideas to clients or prospective employers. Not only can you create great still images, SketchUp also is able to produce walk-thru videos! This book has been written with the assumption that you have no prior experience using Google SketchUp. With this book, you will be able to describe and apply many of the fundamental principles needed to develop compelling SketchUp models. The book uses a series of tutorial style exercises in order to introduce you to SketchUp. Several pieces of furniture are molded throughout the book. The process is broken down into the fundamental concepts of 2D line work, 3D extraction, applying materials, and printing. Although the book is primarily written with a classroom setting in mind, most individuals will be able to work through it on their own and benefit from the tips and tricks presented.

Trimble SketchUp (formerly Google SketchUp) is an all-purpose 3D modeling tool. The program is primarily developed around architectural design, but it can be used to model just about anything. It is an easy way to quickly communicate your design ideas to clients or prospective employers. Not only can you create great still images, SketchUp also is able to produce walkthrough videos. The tutorials will introduce you to using SketchUp to create 3D models for interior design. Several pieces of furniture are modeled. The process is broken down into the fundamental concepts of 2D line work, 3D extraction, applying materials and printing. For a little inspiration, this book has several real-world SketchUp project images throughout. Also, a real-world project is provided to explore and it is employed in the book to develop a walkthrough animation. Rather than covering any one feature or workflow in excruciating detail, this book aims to highlight many topics typically encountered in practice. Many of the tutorials build upon each other so you have a better understanding of how everything works, and you finish with a greater sense of confidence. In addition to “pure” SketchUp tutorials, which comprises most of the text, you will also enjoy these “extended” topics: Introduction to LayOut; an application which comes with SketchUp Pro Manufacturer specific paint colors and wallcoverings Manufacturer specific furniture Manufacture specific flooring Photorealistic rendering using V-Ray for SketchUp Working with AutoCAD DWG files Working with Revit; including how to bring SketchUp models into Revit This book has been written with the assumption that you have no prior experience using Trimble SketchUp. With this book, you will be able to describe and apply many of the fundamental principles needed to develop compelling SketchUp models. Although the book is primarily written with a classroom setting in mind, most individuals will be able to work through it on their own and benefit from the tips and tricks presented.

Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer is your gateway into the exciting world of personal fabrication. The “printer” that you'll build from this book is a personal fabricator capable of creating small parts and other objects from drops of molten plastic. Design a part using a modeling tool such as Google SketchUp. Then, watch while the fabricator head sweeps back and forth and upwards, depositing plastic in all the right places. You can build anything from a replacement tab to hold a bookshelf in place, to a small art project, to a bashguard for your bicycle. If you can conceive it and design it, you can build it, and you'll have fun doing it! Printing in Plastic is aimed at creative people comfortable using power tools such as a table saw, circular saw, and drill press. Authors James Kelly and Patrick Hood-Daniel lead you through building a personal fabrication machine based upon a set of blueprints downloaded from their website. Example projects get you started in designing and fabricating your own parts. Bring your handyman skills, and apply patience during the build process. You too can be the proud owner of a personal fabricator—a three-dimensional printer. Leads you through building a personal fabrication machine capable of creating small parts and objects from plastic Provides example projects to get you started on the road to designing and fabricating your own parts Provides an excellent parent/child, or small group project

Learn how to design 3D-printed objects that work in the real world About This Book This book shows you how to design from a reference to physical objects that can be easily represented by simple basic objects in Blender (cube, cylinder, sphere, and so on) by measuring them This is the only book on the market that shows you how to take your first steps to create 3D printed objects that are able to interact with existing objects Learn how to utilize Blender's functionality to make your designs more precise and accurate Who This Book Is For Reader will have basic knowledge of Blender and 3D Printing, and will have probably already made something simple. They will be interested in printing their first object. What You Will Learn Gain techniques to accurately measure the objects with rules, manual calipers, and digital calipers Break down complex geometries into multiple simple shapes and model them in layers using Blender Scale and re-scale a model to fit based on volume or size constraints See how to multishell geometries and auto-intersections using the Boolean Modifier In Detail Want to model a 3D printed prototype of an object that needs to be replaced or broken? This book will teach you how to accurately measure objects in the real world with a few basic measuring techniques and how to create an object for 3D printing around the objects measured. In this book, you'll learn to identify basic shapes from a given object, use Vernier and Digital calipers and grid paper tracing techniques to derive measurements for the objects. With the help of measurements, you'll see to model these objects using Blender, organize the parts into layers, and later combine them to create the desired object, which in this book is a 3D printable SD card holder ring that fits your finger. Style and approach This book will be an easy-to-follow guide to learn the methods of scaling, precise measurements, and accurate designing. Using a step-by-step approach, this book will guide you on your journey to model different parts of a complex object and later combine them to create 3D printed objects that work in the real world.